10.3917/rfsen.532.0180

Abstract

Focusing on the case of the superstore sector, this article sheds light on the sources of dedication to work and the contradictory dynamics operating in the world of work today. At precisely the moment that companies are demanding considerable employee commitment, they possess fewer and fewer resources to engender it. Superstores are emblematic of this paradox, organised as they are according to “just in time” and “zero inventory” principles, which require intense dedication from store staff amounting to total working time flexibility. The incentive model promoted in the sector is to promise employees compensation in the form of internal promotion. This managerial rhetoric, though addressed to all employees, today only affects a tiny minority. The impact on the dedication of store staff is analysed using a typology of this population that allows light to be shed on the different degrees and types of commitment to work that characterise it. What is found is that a significant proportion of shop floor staff adopts an attitude of resignation. Consequently, though the work gets done “despite everything,” this is primarily because disengagement by some is compensated for by over-commitment by others, in the latter case due to motivations other than internal promotion.